The present invention relates, in general, to communication equipment and, more specifically, to cabinets or racks for mounting communication equipment and connecting such equipment to external devices, cables, etc.
Such communication racks or frames are provided to house all communication equipment and connections for a given service area or drop zone in a user facility. The racks are typically floor mounted so as to provide easy access to the front and rear connections on various rack mounted components, such as hubs, switches, routers, etc. However, such floor mounted racks take up valuable floor space in what is, typically, crowded user facilities.
Such racks can be mounted in other out of the way locations, such as from the ceiling of the user facility. However, the typical component rack is bulky and does not provide a closable and lockable enclosure for protecting the components and connections in the rack as well as to prevent unauthorized access to the connections and components.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a remote distribution frame or cabinet which overcomes the deficiencies of prior art communication equipment mounting and connection apparatus.
The present invention is a remote distribution frame ideally suited for use with electrical devices, such as communication devices, which provides a distribution drop for communication signals.
In one aspect, the remote distribution frame is in the form of an enclosure formed of a front cabinet and a rear cabinet. The front cabinet has a back wall, opposed sidewalls and top and bottom walls extending from the back wall, the sidewalls and the top and bottom defining a front surface aperture. At least one and preferable two doors moveably close the front aperture in the front cabinet. The divider wall intermediate the sidewalls of the front cabinet extends between the back wall and the top and bottom walls to form separate front interior compartments in the front cabinet. At least one connector means is mounted in the divider wall for terminating electrical conductors passing into the front cabinet and conductors extending from electrical devices housed in the rear cabinet.
The rear cabinet includes sidewalls, a top wall and a bottom wall extending from a front wall. The rear cabinet is joined to the front cabinet at the juxtaposed back wall of the front cabinet and the front wall of the rear cabinet. An aperture is formed in the back wall of the front cabinet and the front wall of the rear cabinet to dispose electrical devices in the rear cabinet in electrical communication via conductors or cables with the connector means in the front cabinet. Support means are mounted in the rear cabinet adjacent the top and bottom walls of the rear cabinet for supporting rack mountable electrical devices in the rear cabinet.
In a preferred aspect of the invention, the support means includes first and second opposed rails, each having a plurality of spaced apertures disposed in an industry standard spacing. The apertures are alignable with apertures and mounting flanges on the electrical devices and receive fasteners for mounting the electrical devices to the rails in a vertical electrical device orientation.
Mounting rails are also carried on the divider wall in the front cabinet and include apertures alignable with apertures in the mounting flanges on the connector means. Preferably, the mounting means in the rear and front cabinets are substantially parallel.
In another aspect of the invention, a temperature control means is coupled to the rear cabinet for controlling the internal temperature of the rear cabinet. In a preferred aspect, the temperature control means is a heat removal means operative to remove heat from the interior of the rear cabinet.
The inventive remote distribution frame provides separately accessible termination and patch connections for external electrical conductors and internal conductors extending from active electrical components. The active electrical components are mounted in a separately accessible rear enclosure provided with an optional temperature control means.
Industry standard rack supports are mounted in the front and rear cabinet portions of the remote distribution frame in parallel with each other to orient the electrical connector patch field and the electrical components in a vertical orientation to minimize cabinet depth while improving component support.